


Checking Up

by keelywolfe



Series: by any other name [27]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Domestic, M/M, Spicyhoney - Freeform, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface, papcest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 13:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16450535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelywolfe/pseuds/keelywolfe
Summary: Two strong personalities, one argument. Someone’s gotta give.





	Checking Up

**Author's Note:**

> Even soppy, adoring love doesn’t mean there will never be fights. Also, there are chickens, for the win!

* * *

“You’re being ridiculous!”

“i don’t care.”

Stretch was lying sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the living room, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. He was watching the ceiling fan lazily spin with intense focus, not so much as a glance where Edge was glaring down at him.

Edge didn’t bother going near him; not that he was prone to manhandling, anyway, but he knew very well that unless you caught hold of them first, it was literally impossible to drag a teleporter anywhere. Even if he did try to pull him up, Stretch was not above taking him along for the ride which was a sure path to Edge puking on his feet, and he’d already ruined one pair of boots this week. 

“It’s a checkup,” he repeated with thinning patience. “Sans and Red are going, too.”

“sans and red can do whatever the fuck they're told,” Stretch said. His voice was tight and cool; he wasn’t upset, he was pissed off. He didn’t look away from the ceiling fan, but Edge could see the way his fingers tightened on his forearms, the faint scratch of bone against bone. “they both work for embassy and have safety requirements. i’m the lucky little boy that doesn’t and that means i get to do whatever the fuck i want, and what i _don’t_ want is to sit around to get poked and prodded by some asshole with a lab coat and a clipboard just because ass-gore has some weird fucking paternal issues about monsters with low hp.”

“I’d like to see you call Alphys an asshole in front of Undyne,” Edge had been keeping a tight rein on his own temper, ever since Blue had called him this morning to cheerfully remind him of an appointment that he’d heard nothing about, because _someone_ hadn't told him. His grip was starting to slip, his own anger and frustration leaking through the cracks because of all the childish, selfish— “And you wear a lab coat when you’re working, this is ridiculous…fine,” he said abruptly, “Stay there. Enjoy your sulking. I’ll be outside making plans for the best place to sprinkle your dust because you couldn’t be bothered to get a five-minute checkup.”

He turned on heel and walked away without a backwards glance. As satisfying as it would be to slam the sliding door closed, in his current temper that might well end in a shower of glass. Instead, he shut it with exaggerated care, turning into the cool autumn air and taking a long, deep breath of it.

Frantic clucking was coming from the coop and the chickens were already clustered by the door. They were all friendly enough little creatures, but they still had some sort of misguided affection specifically for him. Edge debated with himself a moment, then carefully opened the door, letting them out to mill around his feet. 

He sat down in the browning grass and piles of leaves, heedless of the dampness of the ground. They clucked louder as he ran his hands over them, smoothing their soft feathers, until they decided possible insects were more interesting than his unappealing bones and began to search through the leaves.

Behind him, the door slid open and Edge didn’t look up as footsteps shuffled through the leaves.

“that was a shitty thing to say.”

“It was,” he agreed quietly. He wasn’t quite ready to apologize yet.

Stretch sighed, and his pant legs came into sight as he walked closer. Edge didn’t look up at him, kept his eyes on his untied shoes. The converse star emblazoned on the side was grubby with wear, they were his favorite. “tell me why you want me to do this.”

“Your HP—"

Stretch interrupted him impatiently. “no, that’s bullshit. my hp is fine, i haven’t scraped off so much as a decimal point in months. i’ve been dealing with it all my life and i’m not the only one. about five percent of monsters count as low hp. so why is this such a big deal now?”

There was a leaf on the toe of Stretch’s shoe, yellowed and eaten away to show its lacy skeleton. Edge kept his eye lights on that. “I told you—"

“edge.”

“Because you’re out there,” he shouted, his head jerking up without his permission to look at Stretch’s startled face. His control was wavering on the brink of an internal cliff and Edge clung to it, forcibly lowering his voice. “On any given day, you’re out there, walking with Humans and it would only take one of them with a bad temper or even a foolish prank and I would…you need to be at a hundred percent for that possibility.”

Stretch sounded a little shocked, his eye lights wide, “edge…”

He couldn’t look at him anymore, dragging his gaze back to the ground as he admitted through gritted teeth, “It’s comforting to hear a doctor say that everything is as good as it could possibly be.”

“edge—"

He had to close his sockets, he didn’t want to see Stretch’s frustration or worse, his anger as his confession finished tearing its away out, “Because then I know you’re as safe as I can make you. I can’t keep you here, I don’t even want to, but I need you to be safe. I need that.”

“okay.”

“What?” It startled him into opening his sockets, looking up even as warm, slim fingers cupped his face into Stretch’s gentle palms.

“okay,” Stretch repeated. He leaned down and nuzzled a kiss against Edge’s forehead, “if it’s that important to you, i’ll go.”

He shuffled his feet until they were on either side of Edge’s knees, sinking down into his lap. His weight was comforting, light and familiar, as Stretch slipped both arms around him and hugged him tightly. The faint tremble in his own hands as he returned the embrace was humiliating, but behind his back as they were, Stretch wouldn’t notice. 

Stretch drew back enough to rest his forehead against Edge’s, peering at him so closely his eye lights were nearly crossed. “you know i hate the overprotective bullshit.”

“I know.” He did, and he had every right to. That was what Edge’s logical side told him. His emotional side was less reasonable and all too often there was an internal struggle between them.

“edge?” Stretch said softly, “this isn’t bullshit, okay? i’m pretty smart sometimes. i can understand if you explain.” 

He nodded shakily. He felt weak, with relief, with lingering fear. It was fine, he could be a little weak right now. Stretch would never judge him for it.

One of the chickens, Noodle, seemed offended to be left out and was pecking impatiently at their sleeves. Stretch winced at her enthusiasm, brushing her back gently.

“you jealous bitch,” Stretch laughed affectionately. He wriggled out of Edge’s lap, a motion that was normally tantalizing, and started shooing them back into the coop. “c’mon, girls, we have to get going if we’re going to make the appointment.”

“Give me a moment to change,” Edge stood up, grimacing at the dampness of the seat of his pants. 

“yeah, go on…wait,” he said suddenly, and Edge did, hesitating at the door. “i love you, even when you’re an asshole.”

Edge managed a smile, “I suppose that’s good for me, though possibly less so for you.”

“nah,” Stretch’s grin was cheeky, but the gleam in his eye lights was fierce, “it’s perfect for me, yeah?”

It felt like a pressure valve loosening on his soul, easing it, and he nodded, stepping into the house. They did need to hurry, and he took the steps two at a time, hardly pausing to choose another pair of jeans as he kicked off his boots and swapped them out. His wedding ring caught briefly on the fabric as he tugged on the fresh pair and he paused, clenching his fist just to feel that comforting weight.

Then Stretch was calling for him to hurry up and he stepped back into his boots, heading downstairs to join him.

 

-finis-


End file.
